Regarding Congressional Endorsements

[Uncle Joe]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx


Bernie for the most part has blazed his own path and the American People are endorsing him.

[leftofcool]

1. Yea, but it's that super delegate thing and those doing the endorsing do have influence.

But, as you said, Bernie blazes his own path so perhaps he does not need the endorsement of his peers.

[Uncle Joe]

5. If Bernie wins the most votes especially by a sizable margin and the "super delegates" don't follow

the will of the people, they will pay a heavy political price.

[leftofcool]

6. Sorry, Bernie has to win delegates not votes to win the primary

each state has so many delegates, they decide who wins the state based on votes. A Congressional super delegate from a specific state can swing the vote.

[Uncle Joe]

7. This isn't a game of chicken and egg, the votes come first, they will know who won

the most votes when they make their decisions, will they not?

[leftofcool]

8. It depends

In my State of Kentucky, Hillary won hands down over Obama. But, let's say that there is a 25 point difference in votes for Bernie and Hillary and Hillary is ahead by those 25 points. Kentucky has I think 5 delegates so let's say that Congressman Yarmouth is a Bernie supporter, his delegate votes counts and counts as high as the original 5 in influence so he can easily sway the State of Kentucky (delegates) to go for Bernie, even though Hillary was ahead by a mere 25 points. Happens all the time when there are close votes.

[Uncle Joe]

9. They will know who won the popular vote in their states prior to the convention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_2008

Superdelegates[edit]
Main article: List of Democratic Party (United States) superdelegates, 2008
Superdelegate votes are given equal weight to the votes of pledged delegates. Superdelegates are members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state and territorial governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, distinguished party leaders, and add-on delegates selected by the state parties. They represented almost 20 percent of the total 4,233 delegates.

The number and composition of superdelegates had the potential to change right up to the start of the Democratic National Convention. The total number of superdelegate votes at the start of the primary season in October 2007 stood at 850. Various events such as deaths, elections, and disqualifications may alter the final number of superdelegates voting in the primary.

While officially uncommitted until the convention, the superdelegates may publicly endorse or commit to a candidate at any time. The presidential candidates compete heavily for these commitments. News organizations survey the superdelegates periodically throughout the election season and try to calculate how many have committed to each of the candidates. The media often include these superdelegate estimates in their reporting on the race, leading to differing delegate counts from various news sources.

It becomes a matter of whether they listen to their constituents or not.

[leftofcool]

10. Sometime they do and sometimes not.

Super Delegates will go with who they think can win the GE. That is just the way it is.

[Uncle Joe]

11. If they buck the popular vote in their states and don't listen to

the will of their constituents, particularly if one candidate wins by a sizable margin, the nominee will be viewed in the same light as the selection of 2000 and winning against the Republicans will become infinitely more difficult.

Independents in particular will be turned off by the entire process.

[leftofcool]

13. It's just the way it always has been. I didn't choose the system.

[Uncle Joe]

15. I never implied that you did, but "it's just the way it always has been" has bitter echoes

throughout history as an excuse for all sorts of nefarious and/or dysfunctional purposes.

[Uncle Joe]

12. P.S. If the Republicans win as a result and possibly even if they don't

the elected super delegates as I stated up-thread will pay a heavy political price if not in this election then by 2018.

[sufrommich]

2. You linked to a Gallup page that says:

Campaign Challenges Aside, Clinton's Image With Dems Stable.

Also,there is not one politician who speaks for "The American People",if there were we'd have a landslide election for the history books.It's a pet peeve of mine when anyone claims to speak for "we the people",the claim is silly.

[Uncle Joe]

3. It says "Congress and the Public" and it has their poll ratings which

are at historic lows and have been trending that way for some time.

Bernie's massive crowds are evidence as is his rising poll numbers that his message is resonating with the American People.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Since you mentioned it, scroll down to the second graph on this link to

see a reflection of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders poll ratings, perhaps Hillary's "image is stable" but her poll numbers aren't.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.html

[cyberswede]

14. I wonder how congress people who endorsed Sanders would be received by Clinton.

Especially if she wins the general.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Officially they don't have to commit until the convention and I have no doubt if the shoe

is on the other foot, nothing will change in regards to my overall analysis as I've posted on this thread.